What Chen Wenzhe saw next were all imitations of stone carvings from the Ming Dynasty, such as a large Zen-like high-relief lotus seat.
This is a work from the early Ming Dynasty, with a surface diameter of 42 cm, a base diameter of 58 cm, and a total height of 20 cm.
It is carved in bluestone. The lotus seat is huge in size. It is round in shape with a flat bottom, narrow at the top and sparse at the bottom. The shape is calm and regular, with a Zen charm.
The edges are covered with lotus flowers in relief, and the ends are rolled up with Ruyi flowers in high relief, giving it a full three-dimensional feel.
Because the Ruyihua flower is in high relief and protrudes from the body of the vessel, it is easily damaged when it is handed down from generation to generation. However, as this work remains today, the high relief parts are extremely intact, which is very rare.
This work, a treasure handed down from generation to generation, seems to have been dug out of the stone basin by the family's back.
In addition to this relief, there are also a pair of imitation Ming Dynasty owl-kissed courtyard stones.
The length and breadth are 36cm and the height is 65cm. The stone table has four legs that stand out for a stable footing. The waist is tied with three curved legs, just like the Ming Dynasty furniture standard. Dragons and phoenixes are lightly carved in the middle of the four legs. The whole is fully carved with exquisite workmanship. The bluestone is basically in good condition.
I just saw two works from the Ming Dynasty, and then I saw the lotus seat from the Tang Dynasty. It seems that he crossed the border, or are they all lotuses, so they were lumped together?
This lotus seat has a diameter of 64cm and a height of 28cm. It is fully carved and has full lotus petals.
The collection of stone carvings is like some ordinary things, such as a stone pillar base with low relief and auspicious animal patterns.
Inside, there are low-relief patterns of lions, tigers, unicorns and sika deer, symbolizing wealth and good luck.
By the Ming and Qing dynasties, it became a period of secularization, because the works of that period were more down-to-earth.
Withering belongs to subtraction and is difficult to control. It is very easy to achieve both form and spirit.
The techniques of expression became increasingly folk-oriented, forming an artistic style that was skillful, complex, delicate, and brightly colored. The previous Song and Yuan dynasties were not humanistic periods.
The shape of the whole vessel is solid and heavy, and its two sides work equally well. It is a good product for use in elegant courtyard homes.
It draws lessons from the artistic achievements of Li countries, which are mainly reflected in Buddhist statues.
Sculpting is not addition and is relatively difficult to master.
The stone eucalyptus flat-head style is based on the wooden utensils of the Ming Dynasty. The eucalyptus surface and the tooth plate are made of one stone, and the tart is made into an image of a cloud tooth.
The stone carvings of the Sui and Tang Dynasties integrated the achievements of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and absorbed the nutrients of regional art through the Silk Road. The art of sculpture shone in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, creating masterpieces unique to the era.
Next is the squatting Jin-Yuan stone lion, from the Jin-Yuan period, height 79, 34-40, bluestone.
The sculptures of the Song and Yuan Dynasties lacked the grand scale and unrestrained momentum of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and did not develop due to the exquisite and detailed carvings of realistic techniques.
There is another Ming Dynasty Guaizilong Yunhe stone eucalyptus. It is 16cm long, 39cm narrow and 75cm low. It is made of eucalyptus sand and stone. It comes from the Jincheng area of Western Shaanxi. Both sides are of the same workmanship. The legs of the guaizilong and the eucalyptus surface echo each other. The shapes are common and the quality is high. The phase is basically intact.
"Huh? Is that Jin Shi? Jin Eucalyptus?"
The base is carved with six edges and six sides and is made entirely of bluestone.
It is also a genuine product, its condition is basically broken, which is really rare.
Now Chen Wenzhe has not seen the stone carvings of the Sui, Tang, Ming and Qing dynasties.
As religious art becomes more secular, the idealized elements in statues of gods and Buddhas have been significantly reduced, while the real-life atmosphere has slightly weakened.
The legs and feet are made of planks, and the bottom is dug to hold the mud, so that the landing is stable and firm.
Something from the Ming Dynasty, 79 cm low, bluestone.
The soles of the seven legs are decorated with flowers and leaves, which is a classic style of the Ming Dynasty.
Sculpture is divided into two forms: sculpture and sculpture, one is addition and the other is subtraction.
The scale of sculpture production is grand, the quantity is huge, and the artistic skills have not been greatly improved. Buddhist sculptures occupied the dominant position during that period and achieved the most outstanding achievements.
In order to save labor, using thought to refine the beauty of style is the smallest feature of this period.
A small number of portrait stones have been unearthed, which also reflects people's low-level generalization of form, their ideological understanding of death as life, and their inheritance and development of ancient legends.
It's just that, for things like stone lions, there are relatively few people collecting them, and on average, only a few can see the genuine ones.
Ancient stone carvings in China are a common category. From the initial emergence to the attention paid to stone carvings in the early 1980s, the products of each period did not have their own specific style, and would be copied by predecessors.
It was a process of war and integration between the same dynasty and nationalities, as well as a small integration process of the same cultural system and stone carving style, which laid a solid ideological and cultural foundation for the small cultural unification of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, that period was called the Paradise Period.
During that period, due to the popularization of Buddhist culture and the fusion of ethnic groups, the themes of stone carvings became more diversified, and the diversification of styles and proficiency of techniques reached unprecedented levels.
At this time, religious sculptures played an important role. The trend of digging grottoes has declined, but temple sculptures still have a certain scale.
The horse trampling on the Huns and the stone statue behind Huo Qubing's tomb are not the most representative works.
At that time, it retreated into a historical period of unprecedented political and economic prosperity, which prompted the development of sculpture art to reach a new low.
In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was not the palace period, but the peak of art.
It is obviously a work from the Ming Dynasty. It is 45 square meters, 33 meters high, and is made of bluestone.
The ancients of that period used local materials and withered them according to the shape. The roughness was refined by missing points, lines and surfaces.
Of course, that's just for comparison.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, your country regained unity and stability before experiencing unity and turmoil that lasted for about three and a half centuries.
It is 70 centimeters long, 38 centimeters narrow and 8 centimeters thick. The border is decorated with broken patterns, and the eight characters are engraved in the middle. The meaning of the characters is simple and small square. It is made of bluestone.
The stone base is made of seven square shapes, with a Ruyi-style shawl, and the pot doors are open on all seven sides.
Because for the ancients, stone carvings are always sacred objects that carry inner beliefs.
That period was the paradise period of stone carving, and all the works were like a stroke of heaven, sacred but inviolable.
For example, the stone sculptures from the Han Dynasty are also called the Shinto period.
Therefore, it is only an authentic product, not the number of stone lions handed down from generation to generation, and the difficulty of destroying stone carvings, which makes the number of such works passed down to previous generations relatively small.
Each of the two front legs holds a small lion, which is extremely rare. Because it has been handed down from generation to generation, the shape of the big lion has not been damaged and has gradually become like a lake. It is rare for the whole lion to be preserved in pieces, which is really rare.
Ancient craftsmen were all small masters, and addition was always preferred to subtraction.
Next is the running lion from the early Ming Dynasty, which is 10cm long, 4cm narrow and 80cm low.
Except for the ancient times, stone carving works did not really develop unique styles until the Han Dynasty, and those styles still have no characteristics.
The Buddhist works at this time were neither dignified nor elegant and lively.
The running lion is small in size and heavy in weight. It is wearing a saddle and holding the reins in its mouth, as if it is running. The workmanship is rough and delicate. One ear is intact, and the rest are made of bluestone.
The stone lion is in a crouching posture, with its mouth open and teeth spitting out, its hair curled up, and its posture is majestic and majestic. It is a typical stone carving of the Jin and Yuan Dynasties.
The stone carvings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties continued to develop along the ancient tradition, showing stereotypes and secularization.
The things that follow are all works from the Ming Dynasty, such as the Ming Dynasty courtyard stone plaques.
Obviously, the stone carvings outside should also be in series, because there are no stone tablets from the Northern Wei Dynasty.